Question of the Day

Does President Trump need to fire more Cabinet members?

FLORIDAFBI boosts anthrax searchBOCA RATON The number of FBI agents and scientists investigating the quarantined former headquarters of the National Enquirer tabloid increased yesterday as they searched for clues in the anthrax attacks that occurred in the fall.The largest team of investigators since the operation started at American Media Inc.'s offices entered the building yesterday morning and planned to work for 12 hours, police Officer Jeff Kelly said. Officials wouldn't specify how many people were inside the building or what evidence had been found.

MASSACHUSETTSProfessor apologizes to 'Radix' creatorsCAMBRIDGE A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology apologized to the creators of the comic strip "Radix" for using the image of their main character without permission.Edwin L. Thomas used a picture of the strip's armed and armored character Valerie Fiores by artists Ray and Ben Lai to announce a $50 million government grant."If I had known it was your work, I would not have used it," Mr. Thomas wrote in an e-mail to Ray Lai, five months after the brothers complained to MIT.

ARIZONAApaches begin effortsto salvage landPHOENIX Tribal leaders have begun trying to salvage what they can of land once covered with pine and juniper forests that burned down this summer in a devastating wildfire on the Fort Apache Reservation.The White Mountain Apache tribe is focusing on halting erosion on denuded hills, rebuilding an ecosystem and harvesting dead trees they depend on for their livelihood.The Chediski fire in June merged with another blaze and grew into the worst wildfire in Arizona's history. The combined inferno destroyed at least 467 homes and scorched about 469,000 acres of land.Tomorrow, officials will start an operation to save soil by dropping thousands of bales of straw from a helicopter, a process called aerial mulching. The mulch holds moisture that soaks the ground and keeps dirt in place. Officials hope that will provide stable ground for grass seeds dropped last month to grow and a home for new pine seedlings.

CALIFORNIATeenager heldin wildfire caseEL DORADO HILLS A 15-year-old boy was being held yesterday in connection with a 700-acre wildfire that destroyed at least one home and threatened 30 others, forcing residents to evacuate.Another boy, also 15, was released to his family after authorities questioned him, said Lt. Kevin House of the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department.At least one of the boys was playing with matches when the fire started Saturday afternoon amid the heavily forested canyons between the cities of El Dorado Hills and Rescue, Lt. House said.The fire was 30 percent contained, and firefighters were struggling to protect the homes in its path, said Kathy Pennington, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry. She could not specify how many people had been evacuated.

CONNECTICUTPriests admonishedin abuse caseBRIDGEPORT Two priests have been disciplined for not telling the Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocese that they knew the location of a former clergyman who had been accused of sexual abuse.The Revs. David Howell of Norwalk and Gerald Devore of Stamford admitted to diocesan officials that they knew former priest Laurence Brett was living on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten, the diocese said in a statement issued Saturday.Mr. Brett, 65, has been accused of abusing two dozen altar boys and other children in Maryland, Connecticut and two other states. He disappeared in 1993 and was discovered recently on St. Maarten by reporters from the Hartford Courant paper.After Mr. Brett vanished, church officials said they wanted him found and brought to justice.Bishop William Lori imposed a public penance on Father Howell and Father Devore, meaning they will be sent to live in a religious house for an undetermined amount of time for serious prayer, acts of penance and reflection on their responsibilities as priests.

GEORGIALegislator said to haveaided abuse suspectATLANTA Black state Rep. Tyrone Brooks warned Gov. Roy Barnes in 1999 that Dwight York and his Nuwaubian group were being targeted for Wacolike racial violence.During the same time period, the government says, Mr. York was repeatedly molesting dozens of black children.For three years in the massive four-year investigation, federal officials were concerned that the case against Mr. York would be perceived as racially motivated, said Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills."The race card was being played, and Tyrone Brooks was the dealer," Sheriff Sills told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution paper, but "the only racial issue was that every victim [Mr. York] preyed upon was black."Mr. York was arrested in May in an operation involving about 200 FBI agents and 100 sheriff's deputies from six Middle Georgia counties.Federal authorities have charged Mr. York, 57, with four counts of transporting children to the Disney World area for the purpose of having sex with them. Local prosecutors have filed 116 counts of child molestation against him.

INDIANAMurder suspectdies from cancerINDIANAPOLIS A man arrested this spring after his daughter told police that she saw him fatally stab an encyclopedia saleswoman with a screwdriver 34 years ago died Saturday.Kenneth C. Richmond, 70, died from bladder cancer at Larue D. Carter Memorial Hospital, defense attorney Steve Litz said.Mr. Richmond was charged in May with what prosecutors said was the racially motivated murder in Martinsville of 21-year-old Carol Marie Jenkins.The 1968 crime has long haunted the nearly all-white rural Indiana city of about 12,000, which gained a reputation for racism after the slaying of Miss Jenkins, who was black.Shirley Richmond McQueen told investigators that at age 7 she watched from a car as her father stabbed Miss Jenkins in the chest in a drunken rage while yelling racial slurs.

IOWAPlastic surgeondies at 83IOWA CITY Dr. Janusz Bardach, a Polish immigrant who suffered five years in a Siberian prison camp and later became one of the most respected plastic surgeons in the world, died Aug. 16 of pancreatic cancer. He was 83.Dr. Bardach retired in 1991 after leading the facial and reconstructive surgery program at the University of Iowa's college of medicine. He also wrote more than 200 scientific articles and 12 books on plastic surgery.He was born in Russia and moved to Poland the next year. In 1940, he was drafted into the Russian Red Army. But, in 1941, he was arrested for criticizing Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and spent five years at a Siberian prison camp.After his release, Dr. Bardach returned to Poland, where he was chairman of the country's first department of plastic surgery. In 1972, he accepted an invitation to join the faculty at the University of Iowa.

KENTUCKYCity re-enactsConfederate victoryLEXINGTON Who says the South can't rise again?The Confederate army is re-emerging this weekend during the re-enactment of its decisive Civil War victory in Richmond, Ky., the Lexington Herald-Leader reports.The first Battle of Richmond was fought in three phases on Aug. 29 and 30, 1862. The Union forces were swept back to Lexington after the Confederates captured 4,000 troops.It was the second-largest battle in Kentucky during the Civil War. The Battle of Richmond Association was formed in 2001 to preserve the site.The Rebels' gain from the victory was brief, and Kentucky spent much of the war under Union control.

LOUISIANAPublic wondersabout gambling fundsNEW ORLEANS The question seems to come up every time a debate erupts about money for public schools. State legislators say they get the query even while speaking on subjects other than education."It's always the same words," Gene Katsanis, a Jefferson Parish School Board member, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "It's always the same question: 'What happened to the gambling money?'"State and local officials say they constantly fight a widespread perception that when voters approved gambling in Louisiana, especially with the lottery vote 12 years ago, the proceeds were dedicated in the law to education, and that schools should now be flush with cash.The lottery makes a contribution to the state of about $100 million per year, but the money gets mixed into the state's general fund.Partly because of the popularity of the idea, the Legislature has made a habit of sending the money to the education budget every year anyway. But critics say the Legislature has taken other dollars from education as it put in the gambling dollars.

MINNESOTAFootball playerfatally shotMINNEAPOLIS A 19-year-old University of Minnesota football player was fatally shot during an argument outside a bar early yesterday, hours after playing in his first college football game."To the best of my knowledge, Brandon Hall was an innocent victim," coach Glen Mason said during a news conference.Mr. Hall, a freshman lineman from Detroit, was shot during a dispute between a group of teammates and three other men near a downtown bar about 2 a.m., police said. The players had accused the men of robbing another player, police spokeswoman Cyndi Barrington said.A handgun was recovered, and three men were arrested, but they had not been charged yesterday afternoon.NEW YORKTimes publishesfirst gay-union listingNEW YORK The New York Times published yesterday its first announcement of a homosexual civil union in its weekly wedding pages.The "Wedding" section has been renamed "Weddings/Celebrations," and featured the photographs of a homosexual couple set to affirm their civil union yesterday in Vermont, alongside wedding and engagement pictures.Pictured are a smiling Daniel Gross, 32, and Steven Goldstein, 40, who were united under Jewish vows on Saturday in Montreal.The New York daily announced two weeks ago that only those homosexual couples who have entered into "legally recognized" civil unions or who have registered their domestic partnerships will be eligible to have their commitments published by the paper.

NORTH CAROLINATiming of Dole covercalled mistakeRALEIGH Wal-Mart executives said it was a mistake to mail a company publication featuring Republican Senate candidate Elizabeth Dole on the cover less than two weeks before the Republican primary.The publication, sent to about 200,000 North Carolina residents, was meant to promote literacy not her candidacy, they say."There was nothing remotely political in the intent," Jay Allen, Wal-Mart's senior vice president for corporate affairs, said Friday. "It was a matter of coincidence and an honest mistake."Mr. Allen said the Bentonville, Ark., company would send a letter to the Federal Election Commission informing it of the mailing to ensure that no campaign laws were violated.Mrs. Dole's rivals said that the mailing was a blatant attempt by the nation's largest retail chain to influence North Carolina's primary.

OHIOStepdaughter sueshealth agencies AKRON A woman impregnated by her stepfather has sued two agencies saying they knew of her pregnancy but did not protect her from further abuse.Shenna Grimm filed suit on Friday against the Summit County Children Services Board and Summa Health System, owner of Akron City Hospital. Miss Grimm was 16 when she was inseminated with her stepfather's semen in 1998 using a syringe. The child, a boy, is in foster care.John Goff was convicted Thursday of rape, sexual battery and endangering children. He faces up to 35 years in prison at his sentencing. Narda Goff, the girl's mother, was convicted of helping her husband impregnate Miss Grimm and was sentenced to three years.

PENNSYLVANIAAir marshals detainunruly passengerPHILADELPHIA Federal officials defended the response of an air marshal who trained his gun on a passenger-filled jet cabin for 30 minutes after detaining a man, prompting protests by a judge who was on the flight.Two armed marshals detained the man on Delta Flight 442, which was flying from Atlanta to Philadelphia with 183 persons on board, because he purportedly was rummaging through other people's luggage.One marshal then held his gun on the coach cabin passengers because some of them ignored orders to remain seated with their seat belts on, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration said yesterday.

RHODE ISLANDState denies motherpublic school choiceNEWPORT The state Department of Education has upheld a Newport School Committee ruling that denied a mother's request to have two of her children transferred out of Newport schools because she considers them unsafe.Hearing officer Paul E. Pontarelli issued a five-page decision on Friday afternoon stating that the Department of Education found insufficient evidence to support Bonnie Sullivan's request that her two youngest children, a daughter in the first grade and a son in the sixth grade, be transferred to Middletown schools.In issuing his decision, Mr. Pontarelli wrote that the department did not find that the behavior in the Newport schools "warrants the type of remedy [Sullivan] is seeking," the Newport Daily News reported.Mrs. Sullivan withdrew her oldest child, 13-year-old Christian, from Thompson Middle School in the fall after a classmate pulled out a knife near him on the school bus.

SOUTH DAKOTAMan jailedfor spreading HIVHURON A college student was sentenced last week to 120 days in prison for having sex with his girlfriend without revealing that he had the virus that causes AIDS.Nikko Briteramos, 19, a basketball player at SiTanka-Huron University, was the first person convicted in South Dakota of intentionally exposing another to HIV. Under a new state law, he could have faced up to 15 years in prison.Circuit Judge Tim Dallas Tucker gave Briteramos a five-year suspended prison sentence and ordered him to spend 120 days in jail. Briteramos also was ordered not to have unprotected sexual intercourse without informing his partners that he had HIV.

UTAH'Porn czar' keeps jobdespite state cutbacksSALT LAKE CITY Despite penny-pinching times and analysts' recommendations to the contrary, the office of Utah's "porn czar" is not going away anytime soon.Attorney General Mark Shurtleff insists on continuing to fund Paula Houston's position, actually the "Obscenity and Pornography Ombudsman Office," created by lawmakers two years ago.Earlier this year, when the Legislature was told to cut $173 million from fiscal 2003 spending, a number of cost-saving recommendations were put on the table. Mr. Shurtleff was told to slice $250,000 of his office's spending and one way to help accomplish that was to eliminate Mrs. Houston's office, which costs $150,000 a year.

WISCONSINFlight attendantsfacing lockoutMILWAUKEE Midwest Express flight attendants will be locked out if they walk off their jobs as threatened, an airline attorney says.Carol Skornicka, senior vice president and general counsel for Midwest Express, said the airline has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, contending the walkouts would not be protected under federal labor laws.Flight attendants who strike will not be allowed to return to work until the contract dispute ends, she said. The Association of Flight Attendants authorized a strike when negotiators failed to reach an agreement by a Friday deadline.Union spokesman Jeff Zack said the union's 440 flight attendants planned to disrupt flights by walking off them before they depart and then returning to work later on another flight.

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